Elysium

Good surprise that this Elysium, after the promising District 9. Neill Blomkamp confirms his know-how in the framework of a US blockbuster. Here is still at work an interesting subject, with contemporary resonances. The film is also beautiful, whether it is the shots of the earth with this devastated mega-city where poverty and assembly line work reigns, or the shots of Elysium, the space station for the rich who live in a sanitized world, filled with greenery, where there is no more disease, and who exploit the poor earthlings for their profit.

The subject is not original and has been treated many times, but here the production benefits from the latest digital techniques: on this level the film is a success. And the direction of the actors is also very good: Matt Damon is very good. Sharlto Copley is still impressive in a crazy role.

Good surprise then that this dystopia is far above the average of the basic science-fiction super production (I include superhero movies as science-fiction).

After director Neill Blomkamp's fantastic debut film District 9 I was understandably eager to see his new sci-fi film Elysium. Unfortunately his second feature doesn't quite match up with the greatness that was District 9.

Visually the film is quite stunning and it has some great cinematography when it comes to the larger shots. The CGI effects are excellent and blend in well with the environment. The Earth of the film looks very gritty, believable and lived-in and the space station Elysium has this very sterile and futuristic look to it. You could really buy it that Earth could look like this with many decades of neglect and poverty. Everything's in disrepair and in decline. The rich on the other hand have every resource available to them in their own little paradise in space. The set and production designers truly did a great job with the locations.

Matt Damon is decent as the film's protagonist Max who is an ex-con now working on assembling the droids which keep order on the now overpopulated Earth. His role and the writing of his character isn't anything too special or memorable but he does what he can with it. He's just a no nonsense guy who is thrown into a difficult situation. He was also quite sarcastic and funny when he was dealing with the droids in the earlier part of the film but we didn't see this side of him at all after that. Alice Braga plays Max's childhood friend Frey with whom Max meets up again when he's an adult. I didn't feel much of an emotional connection or chemistry between them though and that hampered the film a bit. Their back story is told almost completely in sentimental flashback sequences which I didn't care for. The antagonists in this film were very one-dimensional and over the top. Jodie Foster plays Elysium's defense minister Delacourt and Sharlto Copley (who was also in District 9) plays an undercover agent named Kruger who is positioned on Earth. They're both very cliché and uninteresting. The writing of all the characters wasn't very good at all in this film and I didn't get emotionally invested in any of them.

The story isn't that great either and this then also takes away from the film's many action sequences because we don't have that big a stake in them. The film starts quite strongly as it juxtaposes the situation on Earth and on Elysium to highlight the problems of social and economic inequality. Then suddenly when the action starts, these issues fade far in to the background in favor of more and more action. From the trailers and the hype I really got this impression that the film would deal with these issues in a thoughtful manner. Regrettably this is not the case with this film. A big problem with the film is also that none of the characters seems to learn anything new or change their beliefs or anything like that. A huge part of the success of District 9 was in seeing how the main character evolved after spending some time with the aliens. In Elysium the good guys are the good guys and bad guys are the bad guys. There's no complexity, nuance or subtlety in any of them. We also don't get to meet any other citizens of Elysium beside the higher up leaders like defense minister Delacourt and president Patel. It would've been interesting to see the common people of Elysium and how they react to the situation, what their beliefs are and what drives them. The writing is also a little too pointed out and heavy-handed. Some of it just made me think "Wow, really?". For example, at one point the CEO of the droid production company literally tells some mid-level manager not to breathe at his direction. Things also seem to happen way too conveniently to push the plot along. Then again you could say this about many films but you really start to pay attention to these things when you're not completely engrossed in the film. This film surely would've benefited from a more subtle approach. The ending was also way too simplistic for my taste.

The action in this film is quite intense and it looks very impressive at times. The exoskeletons were fun and looked convincing. Then comes the shaky cam. Oh boy. It's really quite annoying and very often it's hard to see what's going on. They should've really taken a page from the Bourne movies on how to shoot action scenes. Luckily the shaky cam isn't there all the time but the action could've definitely been improved with a clearer shooting style.

All in all, the film has decent action with absolutely gorgeous visuals and it moves along at a good pace. Sadly the writing, the plot and the characters aren't that interesting and it's hard to get emotionally invested in this film. It's watchable and probably quite entertaining if you're in the proper mood for it. For me, the film ultimately left me a bit cold and disappointed.

Elysium

Elysium is at one point disappointing and at the other it is fine. It's a Dystopia which does not look like it could be too far away from the present. The longer you think about it, Elyisum already happens everywhere, and Neill Blomkamp is a South African native, so it becomes clear, that the message is about poverty and money in the future. The difficulty making such a future logic and scientifically well, is obvious, and it is not completely convincing. There lies the main problem of a sci-fi movie. You make either a starwarsy fairy tale or you have to make it very, very believable like the director's much acclaimed "District 9".

Plotwise it reminded me of "Wall-E" (which was better), "Oblivion", "Escape from NY" and some anime type plots . The story was very predictable from the beginning and for my taste, it could have been made completely PG 18 in terms of violence, to make it darker and more grim. Now, it looks a bit indecisive. The actors were fine, especially the less known, like Copley, Luna and Moura. Jodie Foster is great here, reminded me a bit of Tilda Swintons performance in "Michael Clayton". Matt Damon is a good actor, but he's a bit overused lately. In comparison to "Pacific Rim" it's clear, why the audience is more happy with Del Toros skyscraper-style movie: it's pure entertainment, reality is far away and the violence is very mild - you hate it or you love it.

To sum it up, I was well entertained by this. I liked the strong hints of real present problems. I disliked the predictable way the story unfolds, the overall mixture of action and violence and some illogic details. I definitely want to see more movies by Blomkamp and so it gets my 7.0.

I tend to be curious every time a talented filmmaker gets to direct a film set in a pessimistic future/post-apocalyptic era : visually, it's the perfect setting for desolated landscapes and amazing images of urban chaos ; story-wise, it's the perfect occasion to insert social commentary and establish more or less subtle metaphors about our current way of life, our current values, and extend in a fictitious way many assumptions that we have regarding the fate of mankind and our very own planet.

In my opinion, it has to be one of science-fiction's most important sub-genres, since it leaves so much room to contemporary concerns (the environment, pollution, wars, immigration, etc.). Films like "Children of Men", "Looper", and "The Road" have greatly contributed to this sub-genre which, in reality, is not really new, but is constantly being redefined and given different treatments : "Children of Men" was an ode to life, "Looper" felt a lot like a modern-day western, "The Road" was a classic tale of a father-and-son relationship, and now, "Elysium", a thriller/action film/social commentary about disparity between the rich and the poor. Neill Blomkamp burst out of the scene in 2009 with "District 9", a very similar project in several regards, and blew audiences away with a clever mix of documentary-style filmmaking, explosive action, and the refreshing implement of an obvious social commentary.

"Elysium" starts off brilliantly, showcasing two opposite environments: the old Earth, which has turned into a huge ghetto where people live like cattle, and Elysium, a high-end space station where all the wealthy people from Earth have moved to establish their home. We are then introduced to our protagonist, Max Da Costa (Matt Damon), whose quest is quickly defined after being exposed to deadly radiation : With five days left to live, Max will ally up with a group of illegal immigrants to get to Elysium so he can get the proper medical attention he needs. But Secretary Rhodes (Jodie Foster), an evil government executive in charge of defending Elysium, will stand in his way, by hiring Kruger (Sharlto Copley), a psychopathic mercenary in charge of neutralizing all illegal immigrants.

The first third of "Elysium" is both fascinating and stressful : You are being introduced to the over-populated Earth, its hospitals, its industrial plants, its streets. These images are very reminiscent of the Johannesburg ghettos depicted in "District 9". And then, you get to see glimpses of the wonderful Elysium, a visual tour-de-force that ends up being shamefully underused in the film. The first moments Max is shown after being exposed to radiation, the film jumps into a nerve-racking tone, and it is very effective, as it is blended with several dramatic elements that range from innovative to pretty common.

Unfortunately, the pace slows down in the second third, where Max's story gets sidelined a bit, to the profit of a few sub-plots that involve an unpredictable, yet not so major twist in terms of impact on the story, as well as a sub-story involving the daughter of an old friend of Max. And while the twist is a welcome addition, the sub-story comes a little out of nowhere and comes off as a bit of a cliché. It seemed like Blomkamp was trying to preserve this family theme that was dear to him in "District 9", and that served the story so well in his previous film. Its unusual aspect prevented it from being too clichéd (an alien dad and his alien son), which is unfortunately not the case in "Elysium". It does not ruin the film, but it does steal its share of precious screen time in a film that feels a tad too short, and leads it towards more conventional developments.

Then the pace picks up again, with a third act that consists mostly of a bunch of pretty awesome action/fighting sequences, where the feeling of urgency from the original quest has pretty much left the building. In terms of writing, this is conventional stuff, but the technical expertise behind the visuals and the sound is a thing of beauty. Also, the dramatic elements displayed in the first third are briefly brought back to seal the deal, and do provide a satisfying feeling of closure to the story.

Overall, this is quality entertainment with impressive visuals, and a world of ideas that had infinite potential. And while "Elysium" exploited only a fraction of its potential, what it did exploit it did it successfully. Directing, photography, music, and performances are all superb. With a decent yet a bit unoriginal social commentary in the background that does get shelved in the second half to the profit of rock-solid action sequences, the strengths of "Elysium", taken individually, do feel a bit scattered, but make for an overall very competent package.

* No middle class just poor v rich.

* Enslavement but not quite. Society is run by a combination of warlords and CEOs. Zero political consciousness.

* Gig economy assassins. But even they live in squalor.

* Cyberpunk + trash aesthetic. Iraq war aesthetic across the whole world.

* Nothing works because why would you want it to, when you're stuck below? Meanwhile super advanced microchips.

* The robots while they don't violate Asimov's principles, they're really passive-aggressive and catty.

* The ghetto robot interface surgery. High tech microchip heists. Hacker culture is the one thing that did advance but they're limited by seemingly 1980s computers they have to scrap together.

* The comedy of Matt Damon's leading man stoicism reacting to all of this zaniness, demoralization, and hopelessness.

* (The big thing the film is missing a VR component to make life bearable below, giving some people the sedative illusion of a false Elysium. Like... WHAT IF you could wear a goggle over your eyes that shows the same busted up world except everything is green and beautiful, and everyone has deepfake smiles.)

* Most interesting is the poor v rich spend all their time plotting and fending each other off. Consider the discomfort that both their views are each other.

* Dysgenics on Elysium. Ie, it's not the geniuses who built Elysium but their grandkids who grew up there ruling it, making its destruction inevitable. 'Good times create weak men' etc...

* There is still spiritual consciousness but only below.

* Above is no utopia. They are not particularly more educated or gifted, but susceptible to primitive coups, corruption, bureaucracy. You kind of feel bad for them as being born there is being trapped, they're unprepared for any sort of reality.

* Opposite down below the most resilient survive and scrap by through friendship and brotherhood. Creates some kind of American revolution feeling.

I feel that there should be a series with this universe that explores the down vs up, because they struck prophetic gold on the whole thing. Plus it is epic. The flaws that were glaring back in 2013 feel minor compared to how incredible the production and concept is.